Dispensing apparatus for dispensing tablets to heaping full containers



1934- G. s. SUPPIGER El AL 1,945,337

DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING TABLETS TO HEAPING FULL CONTAINERS Filed March 13, 1931 a 4 m CZ i a a l 5 a Wa/ 4, Q a m 6 2H /m 1W X r; 5 I. 6 m I j w 1 M WIIIL 4 m a -|l||l h 6 5 w u 1 JJ a 2 u If W a WW My Q, a 1 4 a 5 s F riVl mAV /////9/ m 1 .w

1934- G. s. SUPPIGER El AL DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING TABLETS TO HEAPING FULL CONTAINERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 15, 1931 H a n m A ro/MEX DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING TABLETS TO HEAPING FULL CONTAINERS Jan. 30, 1934. cs. 5. SUPPIGER El AL Filed March 13, 1931 3 Shgets-Sheet 5 Patented Jan. 30, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING TABLETS TO HEAPING FULL CONTAIN- ERS pany, Belleville, 111., a

corporation of Illinois Application March 13, 1931. Serial No. 522,215

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a process of adding or dispensing flavoring or seasoning tablets to a heaping mass of a food product or to a container heaping full of such a product. The invention relates, also, to a dispensing apparatus particularly suited for use in carrying out the said process, although, in certain aspects, this apparatus is capable of a much more extended and general use. The invention relates particularly'to improvements on the apparatuses and methods disclosed in the present inventors prior joint application for United States patent, Serial 205,892, filed July 15, 1927, and in the application of the present inventor, Gerhart S. Suppiger, for United States patent, Serial 506,079, filed January 2, 1931.

The dispensing apparatus shown in the aforesaid prior applications for United States patents includes a hopper having its bottom closed by a pair of horizontal plates superposed in spaced relation to one another, and a rotary discharger disk intermediate said plates, the discharger disk having one or more perforations arranged at equal angular intervals and at the same distances from the center or axis of the disk, which perforations are successively brought into registration with a discharge opening in the lower plate and with an opening in the upper plate, the openings in the upper and lower plates being out of registration or alinement with each other. Otherwise stated," only one dispensable body can be discharged at a time, because the upper plate functions to close the upper end of a perforation in the discharger disk when such perforation is in register with the discharge opening in the lower plate, whereby dispensable bodies in the hopper are prevented from immediately following the dispensable body that is dropping from the perforation in the discharger disk into the alined discharger opening in the lower plate. However, should a broken tablet or dispensable body or a foreign body of improper size or shape find its way into the hopper, the perforation in the discharger disk might become overfilled and extend up into the opening in the upper plate, and thereby cause jamming of the discharger disk and derangement of the dispensing apparatus. Accordingly, one purpose of the present invention is to prevent such jamming and derangement by eliminating the upper plate and substituting therefor other provisions for assuring that only a predetermined number of dispensable bodies can pass at each discharging interval through the discharge opening in the lower plate. In certain canning operations, it is the practice to fill the cans heaping full, and then to add the flavoring or .seasoning tablet thereto. However, when a tablet is dropped on the heaping contents of such a can, there is a tendency for the tablet to roll off the contents and the can. Accordingly, another purpose of the present invention is to provide a method and means for depositing a tablet on such overfilled cans so that the tablet can not roll off.

Other objects, advantages and desirable features of the invention will appear in the course of the following description of divers illustrative embodiments of the spirit thereof.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification; in which like numbers of reference denote like parts wherever they occur,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of one form of dispensing machine made in accordance with the present invention, embodying one form of driving means and one form of means for depositing a tablet on an overfilled can so that the tablet can not roll off;

Figure 2 is a vertical central sectional view of the same, looking from the right hand side of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional View, taken on the line 3-3 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the inclined plane indicated by the line. 4-4 in Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 5--5 in Figure2;

Figures 6, 7, and 8 are fragmentary front elevations of divers other forms of means for depositing atablet on an overfilled container so that the tablet can not roll ofi and Figure 9 is a perspective view of another form of the machine exhibiting a different means for driving it.

The dispensing machine 1 shown in Figures 1 to 5, inclusive, is stationed alongside a conveyor 2, which is preferably of the endless belt type and carries cans or receptacles 3 in sequence past the machine 1, preferably, although not necessarily, between guides 4, that prevent lateral displacement of the receptacles or containers 3. The frame or standard 5 of the dispensing machine 1 comprises, preferably in the form of a single casting, a base 6, a post 7 rising from the rear end of the base 6, a horizontal forwardly projecting arm 8 disposed a, suitable distance above the base 6, and a forwardly inclining arm 9 at the upper end of the post 7. The forwardly inclining bottom plate 10 of a rearwardly inclined hopper 11 is secured to the upper face of the inclined arm 9 by bolts 12. The machine is mounted on the frame 13 of the conveyor 2 by suitable bolts 14 passing through the holes 15 in the base 6. The sloping wall 16 of the hopper 11 is secured to the bottom plate 10 by means of screws 17. A rotary discharging plate or disk 18 covers the bottom 10 and is afixed to the upper end of a shaft 19, that passes through a bearing 20 on the underside of the bottom plate 10, and that has affixed to its lower end a bevel pinion 21. A vertical shaft 22 is journaled at its lower end in a step bearing 23 and adjacent its upper end in a bearing 24 in the arm 8. A star wheel 25 is affixed to the lower portion of the shaft 22 to drive the latter, and the rotation of the shaft 22 drives the shaft 19 to rotate the disk 18 through thebevel pinion 21 and a bevel pinion 26 in mesh with the latter and aflixed to the shaft 22. The disk 18 is provided with a series of perforations or openings 27, equal in number to the projections or teeth 28 of the star wheel 25, provided the pinions 21 and 26 have the same pitch diameter and the same number of teeth, which is the case in the present embodiment. A second hopper 29 feeds vertically into the rear and upper end of the first mentioned hopper 11, being secured thereto by bolts 30. The feed of the hopper 29 into'the hopper 11 is regulated so that the mass or accumulation of the tablets or dispensable articles 31 can not rise high enough to enter a perforation 27 in the disk 18 when such perforation is alined or in register with the dis-,

charging opening or perforations 32 in the bottom plate 10. The said regulation is effected by adjusting the height of a gate or plate valve 33, that limits the flow of dispensable bodies 31 toward the disk 18. The plate 33 is held inits adjusted position on the front side of the lower end of the hopper 29 by means of bolts 34, that pass through vertical slots 35 in the plate 33 and through the wall 36 of the hopper 29. An annular groove 37 in the upper face of the disk 18 facilitates the flow of dispensable bodies 31 into the openings or recesses 27. Ihe very slight at trition of the dispensable bodies 31 in their passage through the' hopper may, after long continued operation of the machine, cause an accumulation of very fine or pulverulent fragments of these bodies between the disk 18 and the adjacent or underlying portions of the hopper, which might cause excessive friction or jamming of the disk thereat. To obviate the possibility of such an occurrence, the lowest portion of the inclined bottom edge of the wall is provided with a notch or opening 3'7 (Figure 2) through which such pulverulent material will fall out of the machine.

, The opening 32 in the bottom plate 10 discharges into a spout 38.

. An L-shaped bracket 39, comprising a horizontal arm 40 and an arm 41 that rises vertically from the anterior end of the arm 40, has its horizontal arm 40 secured by a bolt 42 to the underside of the arm 8 of the standard 1, and its vertical arm 41 has secured to, its anterior side aframe 43 by means of a bolt 44. Bolt 42 passes through a lon; gitudinal slot 45 in the arm 40, and bolt 44 passes through a longitudinal slot 46 in the arm 41, so thatthese slots permit the frame 43 to be adjusted both vertically and from front to :ear. The frame 43 comprises an anterior wall 4'7, a posterior wall 48, and end walls 49. The anterior wall 4'? and the posterior wall 48 each have a pair of slots 50 and 51 that are alined with the pa r of slots 50 and 51 in the other. The slots 50 and 51 in each wall are disposed on opposite sides of the central spout 38, and incline away from each other, as best shown in Figures 1 and 5. Assuming that the conveyer 2 is moving from right to left, the left hand slots 50 will support the pintle 52 of a roller 53, and the right hand slots 51 will support the pintle 54 of a chute or conduit 55. The chute 55 slopes downwardly from the pintle 5a to a point beneath the lower end of the spout 38, and is normally maintained in its elevated position about the pivot 54 by the preponderant counter moment of a weighted arm 56, whose descent is limited by its engagement with the upper edge 57 of the adjacent end wall 49. The preponderance in moment of the arm 56 over the counter-moment of the chute 55 is limited to a value such that the lower end 58 of the chute 55 can descend under the force of a tablet that has dropped thereon after the tablets emergence from the lower end of the spout 38. The inclination of the chute 55 and the height of its lower end 58 can be adjusted 95 by bending the arm 56 in the appropriate direction between its pivot 54 and the edge 57 of the right end wall 49, the arm being preferably formed of wrought iron or other material having a similar degree of resistance to fiexure and of such a width 168 and thickness thatit can not bend under the stresses imparted thereto during the operation of the machine, but only when it is intentionally adjusted. The roller 53 is driven by the engagement of the heaping contents 59 of the receptacles 3 with'the under portion of its periphery, and, in

order to minimize slippage of the contents against the rollers periphery, the latter is preferably provided with corrugations 60.

When the hopper 29 is supplied with tablets 31, the latter flow down into the hopper l1 and to"- ward the disk 18 until they occupy the position shown in Figure 2, the height to which the mass of tablets 31 can rise along the disk 18 being determined by the vertical position of the outlet gate 33 on the hopper 29. As the conveyor 2 travels from right to left (Figures 1 and 3), the cans or containers 3 engage the teeth 28 of the star wheel 25 and rotate the latter, and consequently the d sk 18, in a clockwise direction, so that the right 1120 half of the disk rises as the left half descends.

It will be observed that the side 61 of each hole 2'7 slopes downwardly toward the bottom plate 10, thereby facilitating the entrance of the tablets 31 into the holes 27, and preventing the tablets from rolling out of the holes as the-latter lift them above the mass or pile of tablets 31 that lie against the rising half of the disk. Attention is directed to the fact that since the upper face 62 of the disk 18 is not horizontal, and the height of the mass of tablets in the hopper 11 is limited, no'tablets can remain superposed on the tablets 31 in the holes 27 at the time of the alinement of each of said holes w'th the hole 32 in the bottom plate 10. Hence this arrangement obviates the need of a plate above the disk 18 (as is necessary when the disk is horizontal) for assuring that only a predetermined number of dispensable bodies 18 can pass at each discharging interval through the discharge opening 32 in the lower plate 10.

The tablet 31 discharged through the opening 32 passes down the conduit or spout 38 and drops upon the chute 55, depressing the lower end 58 of the chute while the latter at the same time deflects the dropped tablet toward the left, or in the direction of travel of the containers 3, the particular container that is actuating the star wheel having meanwhile advanced to a point directly under the gap between the chute 55 and roller 53. The chute 55 directs the tablet between the roller 53 and the contents of the container 3, while the roller 53, as the receptacle 3 continues to advance, presses the tablet down against the contents to facilitate the lodgement of the tablet therein, while, also, depressing the heaping portion of the contents, so that the tablet can not roll off. It will be appreciated that the yieldable chute 55 minimizes the possibility of a rebound of the dropping tablet, and that, also, in deflecting the tablet forwardly so as to move with the cam, minimizes the possibility of the tablet missing the can. Furthermore, the walk 47 and 48 and the chute 55 and roller 53 co-operate to confine the tablet within proper bounds in the course of its descent into the receptacle 3 or upon the contents 59 of the latter. The roller 53 should have sufficient weight to depress the heap 59 of the food product, which may, for instance, be a tomato floating in the can so as to extend above the top thereof. However, the weight of the roller involves the moment of inertia of the roller, which is a desideratum, particularly when the conveyor travels comparatively fast, on account of the fact that the roller 53 is actuated by the engagement of the heap 59 of the contents of the receptacles 3. It will, therefore, be appreciated that, if the roller 53 is too heavy, it might fail to turn, and would scrape over the contents, tending to spill them on the conveyor and possibly, also, to overturn the receptacle. The slots 50 are provided to allow the roller 53 to be lifted by the heap 59 in case the latter does not yield readily to the weight of the roller. The slots 50 are preferably inclined in the direction of travel of the receptacles 3, thereby enabling the heap 59 to lift the roller 53 and rotate it more easily under the forward movement of the conveyor. The holes 51 need not be elongated to facilitate the functioning of the chute 55, but are preferably elongated and inclined in the opposite direction to that of the slots 50, so that the roller 53 and chute 55 can be easily interchanged to accommodate. the machine to a conveyor traveling in the opposite direction, that is, from left to right.

The forms of the invention shown in Figures 6, 7, and 8 substitute a roller 63 for the chute 55. Both rollers 53 and 63 co-operate with the walls 47 and 48 to confine the tablet 31 within proper bounds in the course of the tablets descent into the container beneath. Both rollers function to depress the heap 59, while the roller 53 in addition thereto, also, presses the tablet against the heap. The forms of the invention shown in Figures 6 and 8 may be employed in connection with a conveyor running in either direction, while the form of Figure 7 can be used only with a conveyor that travels from right to left, on account of the inclination of the slots 50 and 51 toward the left. However, the conveyor for the form of Figure 6 must run comparatively more slowly on account of the vertical elongation of its slots. The form of Figure 8 may be provided with ordinary journal bearings 64 instead of slots, since the rollers are positively driven through gears 65, 66, and 67, pulley 68, belt 69, and a pulley '70 on the conveyor shaft 71. The form of the invention shown in Figure 9 omits the can-operated drive for the discharging disk 18, the machine being mounted adjacent a filling machine '72 of a well known type that comprises a rotary filling table '73, having openings 74 therein that are alined with empty cans or containers 3 traveling thereunder with the rotary movement of the table, and the rotation of the discharging disk of the tablet dispensing machine being effected by a wheel 75, affixed to the lower end of the inclined discharging disk shaft 19 and having teeth '76 that are engaged by the edges of the openings 74, the tablets 31 being discharged through a spout 38 through the openings 74 into the unfilled cans 3 beneath the table 73. Of course, since the cans 3 are not filled, no rollers 53 or chutes 55 are needed, and so are omitted from this form of tablet dispensing machine. It will be quite apparent, also, that the cans 3 need not be entirely empty at the time of their passing under the spout of the machine of Figure 9, but may be partly filled, and the filling completed after the tablet has been deposited in the can.

Having thus fully described this invention, we hereby reserve the benefit of all changes in form, arrangement, order, or use of parts, as it is evident that many minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of this invention or the scope of the following claims,

We claim:

1. In a dispensing apparatus including means for depositing a tablet upon the contents of a traveling container, the combination with a roller arranged above the course of travel of the container adapted to be engaged by the contents of the container, of a support for said roller whereby said roller may be shifted in an inclined forward direction.

2. In an apparatus for depositing a tablet on a traveling body, the combination of an inclined discharge conduit extending downwardly in the direction of the line of travel of the body, and a tiltable support for said conduit arranged to support said conduit so that the lower end thereof is depressed by the weight of a tablet thereon.

3. In an apparatus for depositing a tablet on a traveling body, the combination of an inclined discharge conduit extending downwardly and in the direction of travel of the body, a pivotal support for said conduit, and means for adjusting the normal position of the conduit vertically.

4. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with means for moving filled containers in succession, of a pivoted chute directed downwardly toward the line of travel of the container and adapted to deliver tablets in succession, and a mechanical depressing device adapted to engage the contents of the container and to depress the tablet into the body thereof after the same has been deposited upon the upper surface of the contents of the container.

GERHART S. SUPPIGER. CLYDE ALEXANDER. 

